Leopard Tortoise

[Mike Buckley]

The leopard was the only animal of the Big Five that we didn't see on our recent trip to South Africa. However, we were very surprised to see several leopard tortoises in Addo Elephant National Park. We were also surprised to see the great distances they travel in a relatively short period of time. I watched one from our deck travel hundreds of meters in about 30 minutes, which seems to defy all appearances of their anatomy.

[Bobobird]

Cool shot. With your pp skills I am sure you can lighten up the face a bit and bring out that shell and skin textures very very nicely.

Leaving the tufts of grass and the tiny flowers in the right bottom corner adds a nice touch to the shot.

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks, Bobo!

I'll revisit lighting the face but I already lightened it and remember lightening it more (too much) before backing off to the current level. I also did the same with the texture. Perhaps a week or two from now I'll feel differently about that, so I really appreciate you mentioning both ideas.

[Brownbear]

Beautiful image of a gorgeous tortoise...